Rusk County, Texas
Rusk County is a county in Texas. The population of the county is 53,330. Major roads US Route 59 US Route 79 US Route 84 US Route 259 Texas State Highway 42 Texas State Highway 43 Texas State Highway 64 Texas State Highway 64 Business Texas State Highway 149 Texas State Highway 204 Texas State Highway 315 Texas State Highway 322 Texas State Highway 323 Loop 571 Geography Adjacent counties Panola County (east) Gregg County (north) Harrison County (northeast) Smith County (northwest) Nacogdoches County (south) Shelby County (southeast) Cherokee County (southwest) Demographics As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial composition of the county is: 65.15% White (34,744) 17.47% Black or African American (9,316) 15.45% Hispanic or Latino (8,239) 1.93% Other (1,031) 13.2% (7,039) of Rusk County residents live below the poverty line. Theft rate statistics Rusk County has average rates of Pokemon theft and murder. The county reported 18 Pokemon thefts in 2018, and averages 1.19 murders a year. Pokemon Communities Cities Henderson - 13,712 Mount Enterprise - 447 New London - 998 Overton - 2,554 Tatum - 1,385 Unincorporated communities Anadarko Arlam Brachfield Caledonia Church Hill Concord Dirgin Joinerville Laird Hill Laneville Leverett's Chapel Minden Pinehill Price Red Level Selman City Sexton City Stewart Turnertown Zion Grove Climate Fun facts * Rusk County was one of 25 entirely dry counties in Texas until January 2012. The city of Henderson at that time opted to allow selling and serving beer and wine. * Sadly, America's worst school disaster happened in Rusk County in 1937, when nearly 300 people, most of them children, were killed in a natural gas explosion at the London Independent School District (which has since consolidated into West Rusk County Consolidated Independent School District). As a result of the disaster, Texas passed laws requiring natural gas to be mixed with a malodorant to provide early warning of any leak. Other states quickly followed. Eventually, the legal requirement for malodorant in natural gas became a legal requirement in the United States. * With the discovery of oil in Joinerville in October 1930, an oil boom began that caused county population to nearly double during the next decade, and caused dramatic changes in the county towns. Rusk is one of the five counties that are part of the East Texas Oil Field, whose production has been a major part of the economy since that time. * Mount Enterprise owes its existence to the presence of promising iron ore in the area. Charles Vinson considered the "old mountain" nearby to be an "iron mountain," and he was not far off the mark; the brown, crumbly ore of the Weches formation that outcrops in the area has a better than 50 percent iron content. However, Vinson's real enterprise came in the form of manufacturing and retailing. His factory made wagons, buggies, furniture, plows, caskets, and a patented churn. He launched a chain of stores to sell these things operating out of Mount Enterprise and at one time had four stores. Lumbering was also an early industry of Mount Enterprise; the furniture factory it supported is dated as early as 1850. There were also numerous plantations in the area before the Civil War. * Martin Creek Lake State Park is located four miles (6 km) southwest of Tatum. The park was deeded to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department by Texas Utilities and opened to the public in 1976. The park is located on 5,000-acre (20 km2) Martin Creek Lake, constructed to provide cooling water for the lignite-fired Martin Lake Power Plant. Martin Creek Lake State Park provides excellent, year round fishing, camping, wildlife observation and photography, picnicking, boating, water skiing, unsupervised lake swimming, backpacking, and hiking. Annual events at Martin Creek Lake State Park include: Christmas in The Piney Woods (1st weekend in December), Fourth of July Bike Parade, Annual Family Easter Egg Hunt. The park also offers regular programs most weekends including, Geocaching 101, Dutch Oven Cooking (4th Saturday of every month), Guided Hikes, Guided Paddling Programs, Star Gazing, and Art in the Parks craft programs. Category:Texas Counties